The Summer's Best Cocktails Are BBQ-Infused

At Jones in Hollywood, home to an Italian-inspired menu and an American classic rock vibe, bar manager Eric Tecosky arrives hours before his shift. The paraphernalia for his prep looks more akin to the Memphis in May’s World Championship of BBQ than the bar tools of a craft cocktail establishment. He fires up the grill and checks his blow torch, cores 12 jalapeños, and reaches for a blade sturdy enough to excavate a pineapple. He’s not the only one bringing BBQ into the bar game. From smoked-maple-plank Manhattans to Cheerwine plucked from coolers for cocktails, the flavors we love in a summer BBQ are now married with mixology like never before.

Here’s where to enjoy this fad of smoke, spice and sauce…from the air-conditioned comfort of a barstool.

Grilled Cocktails at Jones in Los Angeles, CA“I love to grill…and I was thinking there had to be a better way to impart that charred flavor into a drink,” says Tecosky. He devised a method of grilling cocktails and has applied it to two drinks on his menu, with others in the works. The Old Fashioned starts with a hollow pineapple filled with Jack Daniels Single Barrel, brown sugar, and Angostura bitters. It’s then placed on a hot grill, and while it cooks from below, Tecosky torches the sides using a whiskey-filled mister and a blow torch. The grilled liquid is strained, chilled and served over ice. His Grilled Bloody Mary, meanwhile, is Finlandia vodka, Dirty Sue Premium Olive juice, hot sauce, and spices, grilled inside jalapeños—also strained and topped with tomato juice and horseradish. “This is easy to replicate at home, but you’ll need this special jalapeño stand,” he advises.

The Rub is a Battlefield cocktail at Home Team in Charleston, SCHome Team is everything you expect and love in a great, Southern BBQ joint, from the array of sauces beside your slaw to their shredded pork shoulder necessitating plenty of napkins, plus live bands to boot. Before sending that aforementioned shoulder to the smoker, the meat is dry-rubbed with a blend of brown sugar, salt, chili powder, and black pepper. That spice mix is then infused with a simple syrup (sans the brown sugar) and shaken hard with Ilegal Joven mezcal, Los Altos tequila, fresh pineapple, and lime, to create a smoky, spicy Margarita variation, finished with a citrus-salt rim.

While not technically a cocktail, you'll want to order this burger with Sazerac sauce in New Orleans.

Courtesy Jenny Adams

The Bootstrap Manhattan at Ivy Kitchen in Dallas, TX“Adding smoke to a cocktail does more for the olfactory senses than your taste buds,” says bar manager Justyn Blevins, who is firing a maple plank—not for salmon—but to smoke a Manhattan of Texas whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters, and Luxardo. Learning there’s no actual maple syrup in the drink frequently shocks guests at this darling date-spot, outfitted with black leather banquettes and an innovative cocktail menu. “When tasting smoked meats, you can taste the smoke flavor. In a drink, you smell it,” she says. “Creating a drink that compliments the smoked brisket off the grill makes any BBQ better.”

The Cheers Swine at Canyon Kitchen in Sapphire, NCSometimes the best thing about a summer BBQ is the nostalgia factor. “As a kid, I grew up going to Lexington, NC for BBQ,” says Chef Adam Hayes of Canyon Kitchen. “I would order a chopped sandwich with crinkle fries, coleslaw and a Cheerwine.” The fond memory inspired an adult version, comprised of the iconic cherry soda, Calvados, lemon juice and demerara syrup, garnished with an ice-box pickle. “A smoky, fatty pork sandwich with vinegar sauce and this drink kills it,” Hayes laughs.

Sazerac BBQ Sauce at Cavan in New Orleans, LAInside this late 1800’s, home-turned-restaurant, with its elegant chandeliers and gleaming hardwoods, you’ll want to order Chef Nathan Richard’s famous triple-stack burger. It comes dripping with American cheese and his lauded Sazerac sauce, made using a reduced mixture of hot sauce, sugarcane vinegar, garlic, tomatoes, celery, and onion. To that, he adds in an entire classic Sazerac cocktail. His Sazerac is made from rye, absinthe, Peychaud’s bitters and a sugar cube, and mixed into the sauce. It adds the fire of whiskey and herbal anise, balancing the fat and grease of this five-napkin burger.

Home Team's The Rub is a Battlefield cocktail is a a smoky, spicy twist on a Margarita.

Courtesy Miguel Buencamino

Pulled Pork Olives at Café Americano in Las Vegas, NVIt’s painstaking work in the name of BBQ at this modern Sin City venue. Before service, the bartenders remove the pimentos in Queen olives and stuff in savory pulled pork. They then decorate the rim of the Bloody Mary with smoky bullion powder, a house mix, Tito’s vodka, and another garnish of fried onions…and, of course, those smoky, meaty, stuffed olives.

The Jack + Coke Float at Accomplice in Los Angeles, CAAn old-school diner staple gets whiskey and a blast of BBQ essence in bar director Gabriella Mlynarczyk’s latest drink, debuting for brunch this August. “It’s served on ice with a burnt-wood cream that gets charged through an ISI gun for the float part,” she says. “[I make it by] setting wood chips on fire, then soaking them in heavy cream. The drink uses all the flavors I associate with Southern BBQ—an ice-cold Coke, whiskey, hickory smoke, salt and vanilla.”